There was a playoff atmosphere in Esbjornson Gymnasium on Oct. 8, in a 2023 New Jersey Athletic Conference (NJAC) quarterfinals rematch that saw Rowan volleyball (10-7) get their revenge on William Paterson (11-7) by sweeping the Pioneers in three straight sets (25-18, 25-23, 25-20) and extending their winning streak to five-straight matches.

In the 2023 quarterfinals, the Pioneers took the victory over the Profs 3-1 back in November. William Paterson would inevitably get knocked out in the semifinals by the NJAC Championship runner-up Stockton. 

“It feels amazing. I know the girls really wanted this game and the coaches did too,” Head Coach, Deana Jespersen said. “It was a revenge match because they beat us twice last year so we feel really good about it.”

The team went into this match against William Paterson without their middle hitter Ciara Bradley, with rookie Natalie Johnson stepping up in her absence, finishing with three blocks. 

“We were down without Ciara and we made moves to put Natalie out there depending on what was working and, yeah, it was awesome,” Jespersen said.

Up 1-0 after the first set, the Profs found themselves down 23-21 late in the second. A kill from Jena Kaul and an attack error from William Paterson tied things up 23-23. Back-to-back kills from Isabel Kirchner capped a 4-0 profs run to close an intense second set 25-23. 

The Profs had a 10-2 run in the third and match-clinching set, with Kaul delivering five kills and an ace to hold off the Pioneers’ hopes of claiming victory over the Profs once again.

The loss for William Paterson marks their first NJAC loss, with the team hitting just .020 on the night (27-25-102).

Kaul finished the night with 11 kills followed by Ava Best (9) and Kirchner (8). The trio combined for 28 of the team’s 33 total kills.

Emotions ran high on both sides of the floor in this quarterfinal rematch. Despite the noise, Kaul says the team was able to keep their cool and get a revenge sweep of William Paterson.

“I’m so proud of everybody on the team and how we stay composed. We really play for each other out there and I think everybody, even our freshmen, who weren’t necessarily there for those [NJAC playoff] games last year, they felt the upperclassmen drive and hunger to beat Willy P and we really got the job done,” Kaul said.

Jespersen says her team’s ability to stay composed was the key to their success.

“I was most impressed with our composure in that match. Sometimes we’re [team] really emotional, and we ride high and low, and I just felt like we were just locked in on what our job was,” Jespersen said. “Each individual was confident, and our pregame talk was we’re prepared. We’ve been preparing for this [rematch] since we lost last year. So, I felt like they harnessed it [emotions] in a different way, and I was really proud of them for that.”

The Profs will look to continue their winning streak on Oct. 12 for a home tri-match against both Misericordia and SUNY-Canton.

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